Council forces schools to rearrange exams and cancel lessons to avoid offending Muslims during Ramadan

Schools are being urged to rearrange tests, cancel swimming lessons and stop sex education to avoid offending Muslims during Ramadan.

Head teachers in Stoke-on-Trent have been issued with the guidance for treatment of Muslim pupils who may still be fasting when the new term starts in September.

But critics dismissed the advice as ‘over-zealous’ bureaucracy and said all pupils would be forced to miss out on activities as a result.

'Overzealous': Schools in Stoke-on-Trent have been issued with guidelines to help manage Muslim pupils celebrating Ramadan

During Ramadan, all Muslims who have reached puberty avoid eating or
drinking between sunrise and sunset to encourage discipline and
self-restraint.

To help them with this, Stoke council advises schools not to
schedule exams or hold parents’ meetings and social events after school.

They should also avoid swimming lessons because some parents and pupils consider the risk of swallowing water too great.

It even advises schools to cancel sex education because Muslims are expected to avoid sexual thoughts while fasting.

Although the guidance was specifically drawn up to help Muslims, it will affect every pupil in the 89 schools in the Potteries.

According to the last census in 2001, 3.2 per cent of the population of the city is Muslim.

The co-founder of the the Campaign Against Political Correctness,
John Midgley, said: ‘Instead of meddling in this politically correct
way the council should trust the judgment of pupils, parents and
teachers.

‘They should be able to cater for what goes on in schools without
wasting time on overly bureaucratic and politically correct guidance.’

He warned that the advice could be counter-productive and encourage disapproval of the city’s Muslims.

And he added: ‘If there’s an over-zealous implementation of this
guidance that may mean some pupils could miss out on activities.’

Ramadan is based on the lunar calendar, meaning it falls on a
different date each year. It is between August 11 and September 9 this
year.

For most of the holy month, the pupils will be on holiday. They will only be at school for the last week.

Mr Midgley said the guidance was a ‘waste of time’ as pupils are
rarely examined in the first week of term and parents’ evenings would
be unlikely to fall at that time.

But Ruth Rosenau, a councillor, said: ‘We live in a multicultural society and already accommodate Christian celebrations.

‘So we’re just asking teachers to be more aware and more accommodating of the Muslim ones.

‘These are not rules that are going to be introduced, but guidance
asking schools to be slightly more flexible in how they deal with
Ramadan.’